​Verily to Allāh we belong, and verily to Him we shall return

It has been reported in Al-Hilyah of Abū Nu'aym that Al-Hassan Al-Basrī, may Allāh have mercy upon him, met a man. And that man had with him something by way of negligence and falling short (with regards to his religion).

And so Al-Hassan said to him: "How old are you?"

He (the man) said: "Sixty years."

He (Al-Hassan) said: "Don't you know that you are on a path and that you are on the verge of reaching its end? Don't you know that you are on a path and that you are on the verge of reaching its end?"

The man said: "Innā Lillāhi wa innā Ilayhi rāji'ūn (Verily to Allāh we belong, and verily to Him we shall return)."

Al-Hassan said to him: "Do you know its explanation?" Do you know the meaning of Innā Lillāhi wa innā Ilayhi rāji'ūn (Verily to Allāh we belong, and verily to Him we shall return)?

He (the man) said: "And what is its explanation?"

And in fact many people may say prescribed adhkār (invocations and remembrances) and repeat them but they don't know their meaning and their interpretation.

He (Al-Hassan) said: "Do you know its explanation?"

He (the man) said: "And what is its explanation?"

He (Al-Hassan) said: "Innā Lillāh (Verily to Allāh we belong), meaning I am a worshipper/slave who belongs to Allāh, wa innā Ilayhi rāji'ūn (and verily to Him we shall return), meaning I am going to return back to Him. Thus if you know that you are a worshipper/slave who belongs to Allāh and that you are going to return back to Him, then know that He will question you. And if you know that He will be questioning you then prepare an answer for the question."

The man began to understand and realised that he had to rectify himself, and so he said addressing Al-Hassan: "What is the solution?" Show me the way out! "What is the solution?"

He (Al-Hassan) said: "The solution is easy, the solution is easy; do well in what remains (from your life) and what has passed will be forgiven. Do well in what remains and what has passed will be forgiven. For indeed, if you do bad in what remains you will be punished for what remains and for what has passed."

Shaykh 'Abdur-Razzāq Al-Badr, may Allah preserve him

Translated by 'Abdurrahīm Ibn Muhammad Al-Hadhramī.​Published on Salafi-Dawah.com.​Use the player below or download the MP3 here.Download the video from Google Drive or watch on Youtube.